"Okay.", Bruce nodded as the family started to head into the alley... and a fateful date with tragedy and destiny. Things were fairly quiet, the dark shadows covering the alleyway with little light in the way aside from some of the moonlight as the family continued to walk.
Martha kept herself fairly close to Thomas as she was just feeling the hair rising on the back of her neck with just how almost frightening the alleyway was. She honestly wanted to turn back now while they could still see the street, but the two boys of her life just kept leading her on. They turned a corner as they kept going.
"Spare some change?", a man asked, sitting next to a trashcan, looking very disheveled and dirty, wearing all sorts of different clothes that he seemed to scrounge together. Thomas saw the man and came to a brief stop as he got his wallet, feeling bad for the man.
"Here you are.", Thomas gave him a five as the family then started to move on. "How about more?", they heard the man behind him say in a much more forceful tone as they turned to see him. At this point Martha could tell he had the air of some cheap alcohol on him.
"Uh, I do-", Thomas stuttered. "Come on... hand over your wallet. And your lady's pearls...", the man demanded. Martha cursed the fact now that she had gotten all so dressed up, especially with the pearl necklace she had.
Everyone's eyes widened when the man then pulled out a revolver and took aim. "Let's do this the easy way, okay?", he said as he walked up to them.
Thomas held up his hands, stuttering, "Look, you don't want to do this, mister. Please, we're harmless, and you're scaring my son...", and the man replied, "Don't care! The wallet now!".
"Thomas!", Martha hissed in worry as Thomas took out his wallet again, taking out all the money, "Here, here, that's all I got!", and the man's other grungy hand grabbed the cash, and a filthy, greedy smile came to his face as alcohol reeked.
Martha clutched Bruce to her side as the man seemed to glance at the money, seeming to count, and then snarled, "Not enough! Now, hand over those pearls!", aiming the gun at Martha and Bruce.
Martha started to reach to undo the necklace before the man moved impatiently and grabbed them right from her neck, starting to partially strangle her. Martha began to scream as Thomas reached out to try to push away the assailant as he continued to tug on the pearls.
"Hey, stop it! Let her go!", Thomas shouted as he threw a fist and slugged the man right in the jaw. He was knocked back a few feet as he stumbled... while his finger was on the trigger of his gun before he squeezed. The gun shot rang out... and struck Thomas dead in the chest, right through the heart, killing him right on the spot.
Bruce screamed, "Dad!", as Martha was trying to recover her breath from being partially strangled, and her eyes locked on Thomas's body as he fell backwards, a stunned look on his face, barely a motion of his eyes seeing Martha and Bruce as the last thing he saw, a flicker of regret and love before darkness overcame him.
Martha heard Bruce's screams as she tried to move, feeling something boiling past the fear and horror as she then heard the click of another bullet aiming, somehow hearing it past the screams and such, and turned to see the man aiming at her.
In almost a flash of a second, Martha saw her life flash before her before she felt almost a similar amount of pain strike her in the chest like when she was being treated by Thompkins. But... something was different; it felt as almost the quick striking of pain against her chest seemed to have come to a stop rather than feeling it penetrating further. Martha lurched forward, dropping onto her knees before seeing for a brief moment the bullet hit the ground... almost crushed as if it shot directly into a couple of thick inches of military grade steel.
The man's drunken reply called out, "What the fuck?!", as Martha felt a familiar emotion, a feeling that she used at times when she wanted to set the parents straight about making their kids say horrible things, yet it felt more animalistic, as like she's getting angry that she was shot at, with the trauma upset at being choked, with this man threatening her son, killing her husband, firing up the anger.
Martha could hear the sound of small shoes dashing away, Bruce was trying to run away while the killer walked up closer to Martha to try to get to the pearls again. Only to get in response of a low growl that didn't sound remotely natural before Martha quickly looked right up at him... and her eyes were glowing that bright radioactive green again.
"Jesus...", the man said as he took a step backwards as Martha screamed out again now as she was feeling that pain from the chamber hitting her all at once again.
The anger, the pain, the trauma, the wave of grief and protective mother instincts was washing over her all at once as she didn't know anything else as she screamed, her skin taking upon a green tint, almost like her eyes except more natural like moss, and her body bulging and growing as bones popped and stretched painfully as it's her first time changing, but unknown to her, it will be easy as changing clothes without the pain much later, but now, it's the birth of something new, something animalistic, something that Gotham never has seen before.
Just like when she was in the chamber getting pelted with gamma rays, beneath the skin, on a molecular level, Martha's body was at war with itself, tearing and repairing itself as it was taking a true change as Martha was slowly growing larger and larger by the moment; her clothes tightening around her body as her mind was slowly starting to fade... being replaced by the savage creature that was taking over both mind and body.
It was like Martha blacking out after getting drunk, but like only once or twice she had, but there's a blurry little window to the compressed spot her mind is put back into the savage creature's head which wasn't enough for Martha to see, but slowly beginning to realize that she's not herself as the savage creature became more apparent, with the pain slowly disappearing.
The man fell over backwards onto the ground as he was watching the woman who he was mugging before was transforming into something no one on Earth had really ever seen before. Her clothing was tearing apart all around her. The pearl necklace had quickly snapped off, her feet tore right through her shoes like they were made of wet paper, and it was clear that she wasn't slowing down as muscles built upon muscles and continued to gain height as her hair darkened deeply along with her skin.
It was perhaps less than a whole minute or so, but the disturbing metamorphism was complete. No longer was Martha Wayne kneeling on the ground in the alleyway, but rather replaced by something much more different. This feminine but savage creature slowly stood up; wearing the tattered rags of what Martha wore before that was just managed to somehow defy logic in places, keeping a sense of modesty. She towered over the killer at 7'2, deep dark green skin, a fairly deep dark shade of green almost verging on black and was built with very well-defined muscles that would easily win first prize in a female body building competition.
The creature opened her eyes, showing off the same bright radioactive green irises and was aimed right at the man. The look of anger that flashed then nearly caused the man to have a heart attack right on the spot before she loudly roared; as if to announce to the world the birth of the hulking creature. The only thing on her mind was making the man suffer for trying to attack and harm her.
The man quickly stood up, practically already sobered instantly, and took aim with his gun, firing off four more remaining shots that hit the creature in the belly. But like the other shot, they simply struck the deep emerald skin and crushed right against the hardened flesh, leaving four squeezed bullets to drop on the ground.
The creature then charged forward and grabbed the man's arm, twisting it back causing a sickly loud crunch and causing him to scream out before she grabbed him by the throat and was slowly squeezing his windpipe. But a second later, instead of simply squeezing fully, she roared again and threw him far across the alleyway, causing him to crash into the way and leaving a deep indent into the bricks.
For Joe Chill, in millions of timelines, he simply would just gun down the Wayne parents, leaving Bruce orphaned as he ran off with his stolen gains and continued shamble around Gotham's underworld as a dreg while Bruce would become a dark avenger, bringing fear into the hearts of criminals across the city. But in this time, Joe Chill would end up dying in less than a few minutes from his injuries as he laid dying against the wall.
Heavy pants and growls was heard as she glared at the pitying sight of the dying man, and snorted, turning around to survey any other view of anything, anyone who is a threat before her eyes landed on the body of Thomas, and her eyes widened as the memory of Thomas defending Martha like a mate, an alpha male, protecting and saving his mate and offspring flashing through the creature's mind, and tears came to her eyes as she stepped closer, rumbling softly in a little voice, "Thomas?".
No sound came from the body as the creature gave a grieving scream, decreasing size and height, "THOMAS!", reverting to Martha slowly as she walked faster and faster, "Thomas!", dropping to her knees, somehow ignoring the puddle of blood, taking Thomas's upper body and head into her lap, cradling him, "Thomas...", sobs emanating from the devolving creature as small steps came closer, hesitating before coming closer as Martha became more visible, with the clothes ragged yet somehow keeping her modest.
"Thomas...Please...Why did you do that?...Don't leave me...", Martha sobbed as she rested her forehead into Thomas's cooling forehead, memories of their delightful courtship, their busy engagement, and ten years of marriage running through her head, "I love you, Thomas...", her hands caressing through Thomas's hair and cheek, her lips touching cooling lips as tears came once more.
A little voice whispered, "Mommy?", and her eyes flickered over to see Bruce standing, looking lost, scared, and confused, "Is...Is Daddy not going to wake up?".
Martha turned her attention to Bruce, "Oh, my God... Bruce!", she sobbed as Bruce ran up to her and hugged her from behind since Martha was cradling Thomas. "I'm so sorry...", she closed her eyes tight. "He... he isn't...", she answered him as Bruce could feel his heart shatter. "Are you okay, sweetie?", she asked, wanting to make sure that he didn't get hurt after everything, as she was practically letting loose a stream of tears. Bruce couldn't help but start crying too.
"Y-yeah... Daddy... he died...", Bruce didn't want to believe that, but it was very much clear that Thomas wasn't going to wake up. It was like a bad dream, but he knew it was real. He barely knew what to think or feel at that moment. Was Martha surviving some sort of twist of fate? Like not dying to an illness but a Wayne parent still had to die.
Martha's heart wrenched as she whispered, "Your daddy...he was trying to protect you and me...like a hero...he didn't suffer, Bruce...That's what he would have wanted...he wouldn't want to be in pain...He's...god...", opening her eyes as she glanced at Thomas' cooling body, her breath hitching as she realized that he would never open those beautiful dark blue eyes of his, have that tender, awed smile of love at her, the dimples of laughter, and would never get up again, to stroll, to run, to eat...
Martha choked up, "Thomas...", remembering the last happy memories as they were in the theater and leaving it, and she blamed herself for not insisting harder that they should have turned around, to wait for Alfred...God, what is Alfred going to see when he discovers the news?
"B-Bruce, what happened? Where did the bad man go?", Martha asked in confusion, looking over her shoulder, to see her son, as she seemed to realize that she couldn't remember, as the last thing she knew was being shot and the bullet somehow crushed which is impossible until a hard plate or something stopped it like a frisbee or a fireplace cover, as she and Thomas had seen the Back to the Future trilogy.
Bruce's head turned a bit before he pointed. When Martha turned, her eyes widened at the sight of the man who only minutes earlier shot Thomas and her... or at least she was sure he shot her, practically embedded in the wall and dying if not already dead. "Bruce, stay here...", she told him as Bruce nodded before she slowly got up, gently placing Thomas's upper body back on the ground.
It was a moment before Martha realized that whatever clothes she had on were suddenly gone, she was now pretty much in a few scraps while her bra and panties were still mostly intact. Mostly, one bra strap had snapped, and they were feeling much tighter on her for some reason. Her mind was suddenly racing with so many questions before she slowly walked towards the man and checked on him. Dead. It was clear that he was now dead.
How? Martha wondered to herself. What in the hell had happened in those moments she blacked out? She went back to Bruce before she started hearing nearby sirens. "Bruce...", she kneeled down next to her son. "What happened to Mommy? Did you see anything?".
Bruce whispered, "Mommy, you were screaming...like a mean kind of anger mixed with sadness and shock, I think...you growled at him after he tried to shoot at you...You changed, mommy...into a green monster...a big, tall one...you roared at the man...he shot you four times in the belly, but they stopped like the first one...you ran at him, cracking his arm, grabbing his neck as he screamed in pain...you threw him way hard as you roared again...You turned around, looking still scary, looking alert like searching for bad things before you saw Daddy...you changed back, screaming for Daddy...You were really gentle with him...I was scared at first but when I saw you changing back, holding Daddy like you were hurting, I came...Mommy, what are we gonna do?", tears falling as he buried his face into her neck as he hugged her, and she embraced him, tears falling as well as she ran through everything Bruce said in her mind, especially the fact that she would have lost the chance of her hopefully conceived baby...her baby that Thomas was hoping for it to be a girl...the last legacy of Thomas besides Bruce...
Of course, then her mind quickly thought back at that one phrase 'changed... into a green monster'. Her blood ran cold at the thought as she suddenly pieced together. Why her clothes were pretty much all but gone, how she managed to survive being shot, why their attacker lied dead. Her mind was still racing when she heard footsteps racing towards them before she turned to see several officers rushing towards them.
"GCPD! Hands up!", one of the officers shouted and took aim before his partner forced him to push it down. "Careful with the weapon, rookie.", the other officer said. He then walked up to Martha and Bruce. "Detective Gordon, what happened?", he asked as Martha sniffled.
"My... my husband... we were mugged... and he was killed.", Martha sniffled out as her eyes looked back to the killer which Gordon followed too and was almost stunned at the sight.
The other officer widened his eyes, "Fuck! What in the world this shit happened?!", and Martha glared at him as she protectively protected Bruce's ears, and Gordon saw the action, and looked at his partner, "Rookie, shut up with the bad language, we got a minor here, for god's sake!", with a harsh look.
The officer paled, gulping, "Yes, sir...", as he rightfully fucked himself up there, and Gordon then looked at the body of Thomas, blinking as he saw the disturbed scene, and glanced at Martha, seeing shimmers of blood on her skin and such, and sighed deeply as he realized that this is a grieving widow and her son, "Ma'am, did...did the killer hurt you after your husband got shot?", carefully watching his words around the boy who is literally holding tight into Martha's embrace, hoping that Martha got the underlying hint of him meaning by assault, maybe attempted sexual assault, by the look of those clothes on her.
Martha knew deep inside that she can't tell the actual truth, as even if Gordon looks like a good cop so far compared to the rookie, she can't be taken away from her son...She knew that Thomas would have wanted her to raise Bruce, to be there for him, and to protect him, to love him, like how she asked Thomas to, back in the lab.